Google began testing its new same-day delivery service, Shopping Express, with a limited trial for San Francisco customers back in March, and it’s apparently proven successful enough for an expansion. Starting today, residents of the greater Bay Area — from San Francisco to San Jose — can streamline their to-do list by having local stores deliver straight to their doors. Included on the list of participating retailers are national giants like Target, Toys R Us, Walgreens, Staples and Whole Foods (just to name a few), though some smaller businesses will also take part. The service is also expanding to mobile phones, as Google is launching a new Shopping Express app for both Android and iOS devices; with it, you can search for items, browse different stores and place orders from your phone. For more information, check out the source link below.

Of all Android devices globally, 45% are now using Jelly Bean, the latest major update to Android (versions 4.1 and above). Only 31% are on Gingerbread (Android 2.3 versions). This is a big improvement over previous platform distribution numbers:

Three months ago, when we last covered the Android landscape, 33% of Android devices used Jelly Bean.

Last September, only 1% of Android devices were running Jelly Bean. And 59% were still running Gingerbread.

Superseded versions of Android are fading from prominence. Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread are still found on about half of Android devices, but they’re losing share and ancient versions like Froyo, Eclair and Donut are disappearing from view. These trends spell relief for developers who complained about having to support outdated Android versions.

(The expectation is that Android’s newest version, Kit Kat, will be released in mid-October.)

In reality, Google Play Services is much more than an app. It has broad permissions and effectively acts as a kind of quasi-operating system, allowing Google to introduce improvements without having to wrangle carriers and manufacturers.

Google Play Services is compatible with nearly all Android versions still in circulation.

An HTML5 app is housed on the Web and runs inside a mobile browser. Unlike apps built specifically for Apple or Android devices, it does not need to be built from scratch for each operating system. The promise is that it can be “write once, run anywhere.”

It’s true: In many cases, HTML5 can work just as well as a native approach. HTML5 has established itself as the de-facto alternative “platform,” after Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

But it is not the silver bullet it is often made out to be, for several reasons. HTML5 faces a fragmentation issue of its own, since there are gaps in the range of HTML5 app features supported by the different mobile browsers. Backers of HTML5 are working furiously to fill those gaps.

So where are we in the HTML5 vs. native apps debate? The status of HTML5 is vital to decisions about where to invest mobile budgets. In an August 2013 report, BI Intelligence analyzes this very question.

Here are examples of where HTML5 is trying to close the performance and feature gap:

Graphics: Web apps are far along in allowing for scalable (users can enlarge them by zooming in) graphics that allow for “the creation of very advanced and slick user interfaces,” according to the W3C, the nonprofit that creates the HTML5 standard.

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Multimedia capabilities are improving. Video and audio playback has become a widely-supported and widely-used HTML5 mobile app feature. Other multimedia features are still in a more nascent stage.

Responsiveness: HTML5 apps can be written so that the device type is detected, and an appropriate app version is delivered. That’s important because of the variety of screen sizes out there. The layout, behavior and resolution are optimized for the screen.

User Data: Web apps are far along in their ability to store app data so that users can return to an app and pick up where they left off. Smooth offline usage is an area that needs more improvement.

Geolocation on Web apps is now basically a solved issue across mobile browsers, while integration with user calendars and address book data is still a work-in-progress.

During the second quarter of the year, tablet traffic converted as well as traffic from traditional computers, while maintaining a similar average order value (AOV), according to [download page] the latest quarterly e-commerce report from Monetate. Tablet traffic converted at an average rate of 2.54%, on par with computers’ average rate of 2.56%, with smartphone conversion rates continuing to lag far behind at 0.96%, though that was an improvement from prior quarters. The three device types were more closely aligned in terms of average order values.

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Computers led with an AOV of $115.74, compared to $113.15 for tablet tablets and $112.73 for smartphones.

[Editor’s note: Monetate’s previous report covering Q1 had found tablets converting at a higher rate than computers, while data from this latest report indicates that the opposite was true for Q1. The discrepancy owes to a different random sample of clients being used for each quarterly report.]

Among tablets, the iPad continued to boast the highest conversion rate (2.6%) during the second quarter, with Android (2%) also out ahead of the Kindle Fire (1.6%). The iPad also sported the highest average order value ($114.18), outpacing Android ($101.22) and Kindle Fire ($91.84).

The iPhone re-assumed the lead in conversion rates among smartphones, just exceeding 1%, and putting some distance between itself and Android (0.88%) and Windows (0.77%) phones. i! Phone tra! ffic also ended up with the highest average order value, of $114.45, followed closely by Windows ($112.36) and Android ($109.52).

All told, smartphones (9.7%) and tablets (12.4%) together accounted for more than 1 in 5 e-commerce visits during Q2, up from about 15% a year earlier. In the past year, tablets have overtaken smartphones in terms of e-commerce traffic share, with the gap between the devices steadily increasing.

The iPad continues to dominate tablet e-commerce traffic to the tune of 90.6% share, while the iPhone also retains its lead (62.7% share) of smartphone visits.

Smartphone penetration hit 60% of the US mobile subscriber market during the 3-month average ending in July, according to new figures from comScore. Penetration had most recently stood at 59% for the prior 2 months, although Nielsen had pegged the figure at 62%. Compared to the 3-month period ending in April (one quarter earlier), Apple’s share of the market grew by 1.2% points to 40.4%, while Android slipped by 0.2% points to 51.8% share.

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Comparing the latest figures to the Q2 average (ending in June), Apple’s gain was 0.5% points, while Android’s dip was 0.2% points.

Although Apple continues to hold the lead among smartphone manufacturers, Samsung has been enjoying some movement of late. Compared to the period ending in April, these latest figures show Samsung’s share up 2.1% points to 24.1%, still trailing Apple (40.4%) by a considerable margin of course.

HTC (-0.9% points to 8%), Motorola (-1.4% points to 6.9%) and LG (+0.1% points to 6.8%) are further behind.

Canonical’s Indiegogo campaign for the Ubuntu Edge smartphone had an auspicious start, but it slowed down after the first few days. The Linux developer may have just rekindled interest, however, by dropping the regular price of the Edge from $775 to $695 for the last two weeks of the crowdfunding drive. Part supplier deals helped reduce the manufacturing costs, Canonical explains. While that’s not the lowest price that we’ve seen during the campaign, there won’t be another discount — if you’re at all interested in the unique Android and Ubuntu hybrid, you’ll want to make a pledge today.

These days, you don’t even have to ring someone, listen to their spiel and wait for a beep when you can just use apps to send voice snippets. WhatsApp, which recently reached 300 million users, has made its existing experience even easier with a new feature that lets you record and send voice memos with one press of the mic icon. A WhatsApp spokesperson told Engadget that the company has “spent a lot of time refining [voice messaging] and made it really simple to use.”

As a testament to this, WhatsApp has now removed length limits for recorded messages and plays audio within the app instead of opening a media player. Playback will automatically switch from a handset’s speakers to its earpiece when the device is held to your ear, and the mic icon will turn blue when recipients have listened to spoken missives. With the new perks available on the mess of platforms WhatsApp calls home (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BB10 and Nokia Symbian / S40), we bet everyone with that chatty friend are shaking in their boots.

t appears Google’s Android is blowing past Apple not just in smartphone market share, but also tablet market share.

According to Strategy Analytics, Android tablets now make up 67% of all devices in the category. Apple’s iOS, which powers the iPad, accounted for 28% of tablets. Other operating systems like Microsoft’s Windows 8 still barely register, but they’re gaining a little momentum.

This mirrors what we’ve seen with smartphone operating systems. Since Google gives its Android OS away for free, manufacturers are able to pump out as many devices running it as they can. As a result, it’s pretty easy for Android to flood the market.

But what’s really interesting is how the gap in tablet platform market share has widened over the past year. Here’s the breakdown.

The high-end players like Apple and Samsung are losing share to Chinese smartphone makers, and no-name brands willing to make super cheap smartphones. As you can see here, Apple and Samsung lost share on a year over year basis as those lesser known groups rose up to take share.

This is worse for Samsung than Apple. At least Apple has something that makes it unique with iOS. Samsung just runs on Android, which is what these Chinese companies are using.

Digital Consigliere

Dr. Augustine Fou is Digital Consigliere to marketing executives, advising them on digital strategy and Unified Marketing(tm). Dr Fou has over 17 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience, which enables him to provide objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI using digital insights.